This invention relates generally to a plurality of reed dents forming a weaving reed, the reed dents being arranged in flat, side-by-side relationship and each being of equal thickness.
In accordance with a known technique, a weaving reed may be formed of a plurality of reed dents which requires pressure coil springs arranged in a pair of reed channels, the reed dents spanning the channels and being inserted at their opposed ends between the windings of the springs so as to be arranged at equal distances from one another. The ends of the reed dents disposed within the spring coils are embedded in a hardenable material. A reed of this type can have several hundred reed dents each having the same thickness. However, if only one reed dent of a different thickness of material should be inadvertently included for a particular reed, it may produce a visible imperfection in the woven fabric. A reed having such a reed dent with a different thickness must therefore be rejected and be considered useless, since such an imperfection in the subsequent manufacturing process cannot be eliminated.
Certain fabrics and weaving processes requires reeds having different reed dents, but with each reed having reed dents of all the same thickness of material. Material thicknesses may differ by only less than one tenth of a millimeter. For example, in the manufacture of reed dents having a material thickness range between about 0.18 mm and about 0.7 mm, fourteen different gradations of material thicknesses are required. These comprise very small differences in thickness of material which differences are not discernible with the naked eye. After the reed dents are produced, ones having different material thicknesses may be inadvertently packaged together. Also, during the production of the reed dents, one could get stuck in a polishing tumbler which at the following operation with a new load of reed dents with a material thickness different from the one left in the tumbler, the latter will become mingled among the other dents and cannot thereafter be identified.
It is therefore essential that reed dents of one particular type be of equal material thickness taking into consideration that the reeds are usually manufactured at different factories. Thus, in a large quantity of reed dents each of a predetermined material thickness, reed dents of another material thickness accidentally intermingled therewith cannot be visually distinguished.